A massive ice jam clogged the Susquehanna River for miles through the heart of Wyoming County on Tuesday, keeping riverfront residents and emergency management officials on edge.

The National Weather Service extended a flood warning for central Wyoming County, as well as low-lying areas immediately downriver in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, another 24 hours until tonight at 7:15.

“We’re stable for now, but that could change in the snap of a finger,” Wyoming County EMA director Gene Dziak said. “The unpredictability of this thing is just incredible. You just don’t know what it’s going to do.”

The ice jam formed Monday on the river just south of the area in Tunkhannock Twp. where Route 307 intersects Route 92. By late Tuesday afternoon, broken ice behind the jam was backed up to the Vosburg Neck area of Washington Twp., a distance of 11 miles.

There were some school closings and delays and the highways and other roads were still snow-covered Friday morning. However, bright sunshine was the hope for some melting to make those roads more passable.

Last month was the third coldest February on record and it tied for fourth place as one of the coldest months ever in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The average temperature last month was 17.5 degrees as recorded by the National Weather Service at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

January 1918 was just as cold.

Only two other Februaries locally have been colder since 1901, when record-keeping started: February 1934 with an average temperature of 15.4 degrees and February 1979 with an average temp of 15.9 degrees.

Norristown, PA – The Montgomery County Commissioners, on the advice of the
Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, have declared a Code Blue Cold Weather Emergency
for Montgomery County based on a review of forecasts from the National Weather Service.

The Code Blue Declaration has been issued for Montgomery County for the period beginning at
6:00PM on Thursday, February 12, 2015 until 12:00PM on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.

A Code Blue Cold Weather Declaration is made in Montgomery County when winter conditions pose a
threat of serious harm or death to individuals without shelter. A Code Blue is called when the
combination of air temperature and wind chill is anticipated to be 20ºF or less.

Clarks Summit will be a winter wonderland this weekend for the annual Festival of Ice.

“Frozen Fairy Tales” will mark the 11th year of the ice festival, with nearly 60 fairy-tale-themed ice sculptures around the borough’s downtown.

The sculptures, with themes like “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Brothers Grimm” and “Cinderella,” will all be done by Lakeville-based Sculpted Ice Works.

The large number of sculptures and free admission are the main draws for people from all over Northeast Pennsylvania, said Abington Business and Professional Association Executive Director Laura Ancherani. Depending on the weather, the festival averages about 25,000 to 30,000 people over the weekend.

Philadelphians will wake up Thursday to the winter’s first single-digit day. At 4 a.m. the temperature was expected to plunge to 9 degrees. And AccuWeather was calling for a “Real-Feel” temperature of -14 degrees.

But hang in there.

“It will be getting warmer. Or less cold,” said Gary Szatkowski, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Mount Holly, N.J. “I don’t know if 37 will feel warm. But it will feel less cold.”

To get to 37 degrees – Sunday’s expected high – the city first needs to bear a high of 20 degrees Thursday, 34 degrees Friday, and 25 degrees Saturday.

You may be reading this while wearing summer-ish shorts and a T-shirt, or standing in comfortable weather in your driveway after getting your paper.

But here’s a news flash — winter’s coming.

Even though it’s only late August, school’s just getting ready to start and winter doesn’t officially start for four months, forecasters are already getting a good picture of what to expect for winter 2014-15.

The price of oil extended gains above $100 a barrel Monday as the cold weather in the United States increased demand for heating fuels and solid Chinese credit numbers eased concerns over the world’s number 2 economy.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. crude for March delivery was up 49 cents to $100.79 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the Nymex contract fell 5 cents to close at $100.30.

January ranks as one of the most bitingly cold months Western Pennsylvanians can remember, though certainly not a record. A cold snap early in the month made the temperature plummet to 9 below zero near Pittsburgh International Airport with a wind chill that felt like 30 below.

State College-based AccuWeather predicts a low of 10 below zero on Tuesday as part of the latest bone-chilling cold spell, one that will extend through at least Jan. 31.

“We’ve been selling a lot of winter tires. People who have decided to try and wait to see how the winter goes, I think finally pulled the trigger,” said Nick Lenhart, manager of Lenhart’s Service Center in North Huntingdon. “They realized it’s not just going to be a one and done.”

And, if the forecast and history are indicators of what lies ahead, this winter is likely to go down as one of the meekest of the past decade, in terms of snow.

For the winter of 2012-13, Millersville University‘s Weather Information Center had recorded just 7 inches of snow falling on Lancaster County through noon Thursday. Another 1.5 inches had fallen by Sunday evening, the result of several small storms.

Now consider this:

A warming trend is on the way, according to Accuweather.com, with high temperatures approaching 50 degrees expected by the time February turns to March.

Forecasters are expecting a slushy accumulation Tuesday. The snow, expected to amount to 1 to 2 inches, should start between midnight and 4 a.m. and end during the afternoon, said Mike Pigott of AccuWeather near State College.

But it’s not likely to stick around.

“A lot of it will actually melt on the roadways, but there could be a slushy coating,” Pigott said.

Everybody’s favorite imported bug does not like the extreme heat anymore than humans do. This explains why we haven’t seen many of them lately. But do not get too excited because they are laying eggs and getting ready for the next wave to hatch. The wet spring (doesn’t that seem like eons ago) produced a bumper crop of stink bugs.

Good news is being reported from fruit growers who were given permission to use a very lethal pesticide to combat the voracious bugs. The insecticide appears to be helping but it must be sprayed directly on the stink bug, which means the process is more labor intensive.

It is recommended that cracks around windows and doors be sealed up now. As the weather turns colder the stink bugs will be looking for a warm refuge. Do not let that be your home!